The Red Sphere
by Xelac
Summary: 17 years after Portal 2. Two science-loving kids wander into Aperture Science and are forced into testing. However, things change when GLaDOS realizes whose kids they are, and certain mute lunatic is on her way.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: OH MY GAWD! My first portal fanfic that actually follows canon! LA GASP! Really, writing this fanfic is very different from writing Average Life at Aperture Science.**

Two kids ran eagerly into the wheat field that bordered the town they lived in. One was a 16-year-old girl named Gladys, but she went by Glade. She had black hair that extended a few inches past her shoulders, and bangs that fell in front of her blue-grey eyes. She was wearing a red T-shirt with a thin, unzipped, light grey, hooded jacket over it and ripped blue jeans. The other one was her little brother, 13-year-old Alex, who had the same colored hair and eyes, and his hair was messy and kind of looked like Harry Potter's. He wore a light blue shirt and jeans.

Here's what you should know about these two: They were total science nerds. Glade was quite a pyromaniac, and liked to build things like bombs and rockets. In fact, she was carrying a three-foot long toy rocket that she tweaked to make it go about three times as high as it was originally intended to go. Alex, on the other hand, was more interested in robotics. Sure, he could make your basic toy car, but he prefers to build large, remote-controlled wheeled robots designed to fight, complete with flamethrowers (help from his sister), hammers, crushing claws, you name it. He even came close to winning the fighting robots section of Robogames (you can watch that on the Science channel). He could also build robots that could walk or even dance.

Anyway, they kept running deeper into the field until they were just within sight of the town. Their mother always told them to never _ever _go too far into the field and to _always_ stay in sight of the town. They always assumed that it was because 17 years ago she had stumbled out of the field and into the town, malnourished, pretty beaten up and overall in bad shape. She was mute, but even when given paper and pencil she still refused to tell anyone exactly what happened to her. She didn't even tell the kids or their father, who happened to be her doctor and had died a few years.

Despite not knowing exactly why, they followed their mom's orders and stayed in sight of the town. Of course, they _were _supposed to be at a friend's house, but said friend didn't want to have anything to do with their rocket, so they told them they were going home but instead went into the field. Hey, what their mother didn't know won't hurt her, right?

They stopped and began setting up the rocket.

"So, how high is this gonna go, again?" Alex asked his sister eagerly.

Glade pretended to think for a moment. "Oh, about 300 feet," she replied casually, smiling, "It'll go straight up, so getting it after it falls shouldn't be a problem."

The siblings finished setting it up and Glade took a lighter out of her pocket. She knelt by the rocket and lit the lighter.

"In three… two… one," she said before she lit the fuse. They stood back, waiting for lift off.

It might have just been unnoticed unevenness of the ground, a fault in the set up, or even the wind, but rather than going straight up, the rocket went sideways, away from the town and shooting over the field.

The two kids' cheerful faces fell. They wanted to retrieve the rocket to see what happened to it due to extra thrust, but to do so would break the one rule that mom had drilled into their heads the most since they were four. Though she couldn't talk, the kids could read her lips and expressions better than anyone else, and learned to read very quickly.

"Should we go get it?" Alex asked, eyeing his older sister anxiously.

"It would go 300 feet straight up, but with gravity not being as much of a factor it could have gone farther horizontally," Glade pondered, scratching the back of her head, "I guess we could run out there, find it, and get back in time for dinner, but…"

"It would break mom's number one rule," Alex finished sadly. They had broken rules before, but this rule had been hammered into them so strictly that they were scared of their mother's reaction to them breaking it.

Glade thought for a moment. Her mother was so worn out when she came to town that everyone assumed that she must have walked for days in the field. Surely whatever she was so scared of out there was more than 300 feet away.

"C'mon, let's go," she said confidently, tapping her brother on the shoulder. He nodded and followed her out into the field.

An hour later, after following the rocket's lingering smoke trail; they ended up at a long abandoned, dilapidated building. The trail led straight into a broken window.

"Ap… per… ture… labo, labor… a, tories," Glade read slowly, trying to make out barely legible words that were on the remains of a sign.

"Aperture Laboratories?" Alex wondered, "Sounds like a science company of some sort." He eyed the broken-down building curiously, "I wonder what they researched?"

"Who knows?" Glade replied, "Wonder if mom came by this…"

"Maybe she took shelter here," her little brother suggested, "Let's go in and have a look around!"

"No, let's just go back," Glade said sternly, even though she, too, wanted to explore. It was a real science facility, not the petty labs at school. Sure it was in _extreme _disrepair, but it was still cool! "We need to get back before mom finds out we went too far into the field."

"Oh, c'mon!" Alex said, already running toward the building's door, which was little more than an overgrown hole.

"ALEX!" Glade called, rushing after her reckless brother.

Inside, it was dark and cool. There was a sign over the remains of reception desk that read 'Welcome to Aperture Laboratories, a trusted friend in science!'

"I think the rocket went through a window over here!" Alex called, sticking his head into a room.

Glade walked over to the room to investigate it with him. Over the door was a sign that read 'Te… C..a…be...s'. The room wasn't much; it was pretty small and by the door was a set of buttons.

"This is just an elevator, Al," Glade said, using the nickname she always used when Alex made a mistake and she was teasing him about it.

Alex stepped into it and Glade followed.

"It must have a basement, since they have an elevator in a one-story building," Alex suggested. Before Glade could nod, the doors suddenly closed and the lights in the elevator turned on.

"Wha-?" Glade gasped as it made its rickety way downward.

After a minute of scared silence, the elevator suddenly opened, revealing them to be in a small overgrown room. Close to the elevator was a large red button on the floor and on the other side of the room, a large tube was suspended from the ceiling with a large, damaged box underneath it.

Suddenly a female, synthesized voice filled with static came over an intercom system. "Hello, and ag(fizzle), welcome to the Aper(fizzle) Science computer- a(fizzle) Enrichment Cen(fizzle). We hope your (fizzle fizzle) in the relax(fizzle) had been a ple(fizzle) one. Your (fizzle fizzle fizzle) and we are now ready to (fizzle) test proper. Before we start, however, keep in (fizzle) that although fun and learning are the (fizzle fizzle) of all Enrichment Center (fizzle), serious (fizzle) may occur. For your own safety, and the safety of others, please (fizzle fizzle fizzle)."

The siblings stood still in shock, not sure what to think.

"I though this place was abandoned…" Alex muttered.

"I… I think that was a pre-recorded message," Glade replied, trying to comfort her brother, "I wonder how it's still working?"

Alex, curious, picked up the box and placed it on the button. After several sparks, the door on the other side of the room opened.

"Excell(fizzle) work. Please note that (fizzle) are pre-recorded, and your test(fizzle) is not being monitored. Please remember to fill out a (fizzle fizzle) form at the conclusion of the testing, before you are returned to the surface," came the female voice.

"See?" Glade said, forcing a smile, "We'll be able to go back to the surface once we complete these tests." They had found that the other elevator wouldn't reopen.

"Man, we'll have to work fast then," Alex muttered, "or we'll be late coming home and mom will know where we've been. What do think she'll think if we tell her about this?"

"I think she'll be mad and say that we made a bad choice coming this far into the field, and even worse choice for coming in here," Glade concluded solemnly as the entered the elevator to the next test.

GLaDOS's POV:

In all the years after the incidents with that lunatic, GLaDOS had grown bored of testing the humans retrieved from the vault. They didn't have the same attitude, the same defiance, or the same overall determination to complete each test as _she _did. It was the fact that she was a dangerous lunatic that made her such a great test subject.

Those children were the only truly interesting things that had happened in the last 17 years. True, they appeared to be a bit below Aperture Science's required testing age, but that just made it more interesting.

Tricking them into thinking she was pre-recorded was easy enough, and the fact that they appeared to need to get home soon to avoid getting in trouble with their mother meant that they would test harder. Of course, she would kill them afterwards, but she can't have them telling other humans about her facility.

Chell's POV:

Chell glanced at the clock anxiously. It was nearly 5 o'clock, Glade and Alex should be back by now.

She grabbed her cell phone and texted the mother of the friend they were with, 'Are Glade and Alex coming home soon?'

A moment later a reply came. 'They left hours ago to go home. They said they wanted to test some sort of rocket in the wheat field, but Alice wanted nothing to do with it. So they left.'

Chell's blood ran cold. A rocket in the wheat field? Glados had told her about it; she said it would go 300 feet in the air straight up. What if they instead went to the field with their rocket and something went wrong and they ended up…?

Another text came. 'Are they not back yet? Is something wrong?'

Not wanting anyone to know, she replied, 'No, they just came back. Must have been playing elsewhere.'

She set the phone down and left her house, heading for the field. Just as she feared, she found their rocket supplies on the ground, with the launch pad tilting outwards into the field. It must have gone out there rather then straight up, and they must have followed it. They would have headed straight to… Oh, no.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no!


	2. Chapter 2

"For god's sake, we've been testing for, like, an hour," Alex muttered exhaustedly, directing a laser with a redirection cube, "There's no way we'll get away with this now."

Due to all this testing, the siblings were now cut up, bruised, and even burned. They even had to get past these white, egg-shaped robots called turrets that would shoot at them, and because of one Glade had gotten a long, deep cut on her right arm that went from her wrist almost to her elbow. Alex had to rip a sleeve off of Glade's jacket to make a crude bandage. The only way they would be able to lie to their mother about this would be if they said a gang kidnapped them!

While they were testing, they had obtained Long Fall boots and a portal gun that Glade carried. Sure, the portal gun was part of the test, but it was a little odd when the voice said that Long Fall boots were required for testing and extras were available in case a test subject's were to break. It just so happened that in the annex there were two pairs of boots, and though they were rusty and damaged, throughout the hour of testing they never threatened to break.

Then there was the fact that as they continued testing, the synthesized voice fizzled less and even began to sound less robotic, making the kids more suspicious. Not to mention that the test chambers were getting in increasingly better shape as they went forward.

"Hey, sis!" Alex suddenly called, just before Glade could shoot a portal to complete the test they were currently working on. He was leaning over a panel that was slightly jutted out from the wall.

"What's up?" Glade asked, jogging over.

"I've been looking at this panel thing, and it looks like those wires," he pointed to some wires that ran along the side of the arm-like machinery behind the flat part that was part of the wall, "Send power that control it. I think it's controlled by something like a computer somewhere, but I think there's a way to control it manually."

Oh, Alex. He would know anything that has to do with robots.

"So, what are you planning on doing?" Glade asked, though she already knew the answer.

"I've been rewiring it so that it would move aside so we can get out of here," he replied, grinning, "But it won't budge. I know that there's some sort of power source in this place, so it's not like it's just dead…"

Glade examined the panel's machinery. Although she preferred things that either blew up or shot fire, she knew about robotics. It was because she had shown him how to fix an RC car that Alex became interested in it.

Glade reached toward the machinery and switched two of the wires around. After a few sparks, the panel came to life and moved aside, revealing a catwalk. The siblings fist-bumped and ran out.

"Test subjects detected outside of the testing area," came the voice, "Please return to your designated testing area."

"How would a pre-recorded message know that?" Alex muttered suspiciously.

"That's not a pre-recorded message," Glade replied accusingly, "It was a trick. This place _isn't _abandoned."

They ran along the catwalk, glancing at the huge facility around them in awe. They had no idea this place could be so big! They couldn't even see the bottom when they looked down!

"Okay, so you've figured it out," came the voice, without a trace of static, "Good job! But we don't want to hurt you. Return to the testing area, complete your tests, and you will be able to go home safely. We will even provide you with cake."

Ignoring her, the two turned right on the catwalk and kept running. Suddenly, Glade heard a loud crash and the screech of bending and ripping metal. She looked back, and realized that some sort of plate had slammed the catwalk into the wall beside it, creating a huge gap between where she stood and the remains of the catwalk behind her. And Alex wasn't with her.

"Glade! Are you okay?" she heard her brother scream. The plate moved away, and she sighed in relief when she saw that he was safe on the other side of the gap. He must have tripped and she hadn't noticed.

"See? It isn't safe out here. For your own safety, return to the testing area," the voice urged.

"Oh, yeah?" Glade said in a mocking tone. She held up her injured arm, on which the makeshift bandage was soaked through with blood. "How were those tests completely safe?"

"Glade!" Alex called from the other side of the gap, backing away, "You keep going!" he turned and ran off, "I'll find a way out back this way!"

Glade also turned and ran along her side of the catwalk.

She wandered aimlessly for what felt like eternity without any sign of a way out or her brother. This place was, after all, freaking _massive, _and very little of it was overgrown or broken, once again proving that it wasn't abandoned. The voice kept urging her to allow herself to be escorted back to the testing area, and it was becoming more and more threatening. Untrustingly, Glade made sure to go anywhere but where she was told to go.

Glade found herself in front of a completely dark room with nowhere else to go and the way back sealed off. Cautiously, she stepped inside. The door slammed shut, and she was trapped in darkness. Suddenly, the floor fell away, and she fell, landing on what felt like glass. Lights flashed on, temporarily blinding her, and she saw that she was in a small room with thick glass walls and a toilet for some reason.

"_There_ you are," came the voice sadistically, "I finally have you under control."

The room began to slide forward toward a wall of panels, which slid away. Glade gasped and backed away to the back of the room. Hanging from the ceiling was a huge robot, (_please _don't make me try to describe GLaDOS, we've all played Portal 2, right?). Glade looked up and could see, labeled near the top of it, or rather _she,_ was the name GLaDOS.

"You know, the _last _test subject who managed to escape murdered me," GLaDOS said darkly, eyeing Glade, "So I need to be certain that what happened with that dangerous mute lunatic doesn't happen with you. In layman's terms, I-"

"Wait," Glade interrupted, trying to not sound squeaky, "Did you just say… mute?" Her mind was reeling with 'what if's, though she hoped she was wrong.

"Yes," the robot answered after a pause with a hint of confusion, "Meaning that she couldn't talk. But that's not important. She left 17 years ago."

Glade, feeling dizzy, leaned up against the back wall of the room and slid to the ground. The robot watched her curiously.

"Do you happen to know a certain dangerous mute lunatic?" GLaDOS asked. Glade muttered something incoherently. "What was that?"

"_Was her name Chell_?" Glade repeated, meeting the robot's gaze.

"Yes, but what does she mean to-" GLaDOS began, but then stopped, moving her 'head' closer to the teenager. "Oh, you are _kidding _me," she growled.

Glade heard something moving, and looked up in time to see a mechanical arm come down. It grabbed her and lifted her out of the glass room, dangling her over the robot. She struggled stubbornly, which only resulted in an amused chuckle from GLaDOS.

"If I were you, I would stop struggling," she suggested sadistically, "If you were to fall, I doubt the it would be pleasant."

Glade looked down and saw what she was talking about. She stopped kicking and resorted to simply glaring defiantly at the robot.

"Alright, what do you have to do with _her_?" GLaDOS interrogated.

Glade remained silent and continued to glare, but the mechanical arm tightened its grip enough to convince her that it could easily break her ribs.

"Ack! Okay, okay, she's my… She's my mom," Glade confessed.

The mechanical arm's grip slackened a bit, and GLaDOS pulled farther away from her.

"Just as I thought. You're the spitting image of her," GLaDOS commented softly, "And as for the boy who was with you?"

"My little brother."

"Full or half brother?"

Glade raised her eyebrow, as if she thought that was a stupid question. "Full."

GLaDOS looked away, as if she was thinking, before swinging back to face Glade again.

"This simple fact just made testing you and your brother a lot more interesting," she said, the mechanical arm bringing Glade around the mainframe to the other side of the chamber, "And don't worry about him. I've already captured him as well."

The arm stopped over some sort of circular opening, and dropped Glade in.


	3. Chapter 3

GLaDOS's POV:

GLaDOS watched as the girl dropped down into the test chamber. It was the same as the first test chamber Chell was forced into after GLaDOS's reactivation, but was in much better shape. She could tell the kid was still shaken from their encounter, even though she was trying to hide it. Her mother was much better at concealing emotions, but that wasn't important.

"Here we are. The same testing track your mother went through 17 years ago," GLaDOS announced over the intercom. The girl's eyes flew towards the camera she was watching her through. "You've already dealt with thermal discouragement beams, so this should be simple. Why don't you take this time to tell me about yourself?"

The girl shot a defiant glare at the camera. "I'd rather you tell me about what happened while my mom was here," she said coldly.

"We'll get to that. But for now, tell me what that lunatic ended up- I mean, tell me your name," GLaDOS ordered, keeping her tone even.

The girl finished the test without a word and stepped toward the elevator before answering. "Glade," she replied.

"That's an odd name," GLaDOS commented snidely.

"It's short for Gladys."

"How ironic."

"How's that ironic?" Glade asked, stepping into the elevator. The only response was a dark chuckle. "Your name is GLaDOS, isn't it? I saw it on a label."

"That's what makes this so ironic," GLaDOS answered.

Glade stepped out of the elevator and into the next test chamber.

"I'm curious to know how you escaped from the last testing track," GLaDOS brought up casually.

"My brother and I know a thing or two about robotics," Glade replied, with a hint of smugness, "We just rewired a panel."

"Panel rewiring," GLaDOS repeated, "The only reason the scientists who used to run this place allowed the panels to be manually operated was in case of an emergency… To bad it never helped them."

Just then Glade gave a small shriek and jumped back after burning her leg on a laser she was trying to redirect with a cube.

"Your mother never made _that _mistake," GLaDOS sneered.

Glade shot a glare at a camera as she placed the redirection cube in the right position. "What do you mean it never helped them? What happened to the scientists?" she asked curiously.

"Just a neurotoxin leak that occurred shortly after I was activated."

Glade looked suspicious, but continued with the test.

"Anyway, you said that you were familiar in the field of robotics," GLaDOS pressed.

"We've always been interested in science," Glade replied, completing the test, "But Alex, my brother, is the one who's interested in robotics. I'm more into things like bombs, rockets, flamethrowers…"

"Hmph. It sounds like both of you would have fit in well here, if it weren't for the fact that your offspring of the most dangerous test subject I've ever dealt with," GLaDOS mocked.

As they continued testing, GLaDOS found it laughably easy to manipulate the teen. She only told her hints of what happened between her and the kid's mother, only stating her own side of course, and was even able to sweet talk the kid into trusting her a little.

"She… She never _lied _to us about it!" Glade protested, "She just never told us about it!"

"Exactly. She let you believe what you wanted to believe, which is, in a way, _lying_," GLaDOS pressed. As much as the girl protested, she could see the doubt in her eyes. "But _I've _never lied to you," she went on, her voice dropping into a softer tone, "You can trust me."

GLaDOS needed to get the girl on her side. She had a feeling that the lunatic would show up sooner or later to get them back, and would probably cause a lot of damage. Having Glade on her side could prove to be an advantage.

The boy, Alex, however, proved to be less entertaining. He was reckless, bound to get himself killed sometime soon. He also seemed to pay more attention to the testing elements themselves rather than what they had to do with the test, and thus took a lot longer to solve tests. She told him a bit of what happened to his mother, but he distrusted her to the point of not appearing to listen at all. Not to mention that he kept asking about his sister and when they would be allowed to leave.

Chell's POV:

Once she knew where her kids had probably ended up, Chell rushed straight back home.

She decided to drive her car there, since that would make it faster and easier to get there and back. Who knew what sort of shape Glade and Alex would be in when she finally got them out of there… if they would even be alive at all…

_NO_! She thought stubbornly, _I won't let that happen!_

Would GLaDOS kill them? She would certainly test them, but what if she found out who they were?

Finally, Chell pulled up by an old electrical shack. Cautiously, she stepped inside. It jerked and began to descend once the door closed. It should take her straight to GLaDOS.

However, it stopped at the entrance to a dark hallway. She stepped out of the elevator as the glowing red lens of a camera turned to face her, and the lights flickered on.

"Despite what I told you, I had a feeling you would come back," came that oh so familiar female voice, "Especially now that I have something you lost. Two somethings, in fact."

Chell gave the camera harsh glare, trying to get her message of 'you better not have hurt them or I will kill you again' across.

It seemed to work, since GLaDOS replied, "Don't give me that look. Their fine, I'm just putting them through a few tests. They're just as good as you were. In fact, _she_ might be a bit better."

She must have been talking about Glade. Glade was smart, the top of her science class in fact, but it didn't matter how good you were at testing, you could still get hurt or worse.

She had to get them out of here soon. Chell raced down the hallway, not exactly knowing where she was going, other than that she had to find the test chambers.

"I won't kill them, you know," GLaDOS called out, "They'll only die if they make a stupid mistake in a test chamber. Weren't we on good terms the last time you were here?"

Glade's POV:

Glade felt so confused. She wasn't sure if she should consider her mom a liar for not telling her what happened to her, like what GLaDOS said, but she had trusted her mom her whole life. Nor was she sure whether or not to trust the AI. Her mom was in horrible condition when she first came to town, and as far as Glade knew, it was GLaDOS who did that to her. Although, GLaDOS did say that she saved mom's life.

"Glade," GLaDOS's voice broke through her thoughts, "You told me you had abilities in pyrotechnics. Just how good are you?"

Glade shrugged. "Before we came here, I took a toy rocket and made its engine about three times more powerful. The only problem was that when it launched, it went to the side instead of straight up. It crashed through the window of the building up there."

After a pause, GLaDOS spoke up again. "Why don't we do a different test, then?"

A panel on the wall slid out of place, revealing a hallway on the other side. Glade cautiously stepped through, and the wall closed behind her.

She followed the hallway until she entered a room. It was small, and had a turret sitting in the middle of it, facing away from her. On the other side was another door.

"What am I supposed to do?" Glade asked as the door to the room closed.

"Just show me what you can do," GLaDOS answered.

Glade thought for a minute, eyeing the turret. A pyromaniac grin spread across her face as she got an idea. She picked up the turret, and despite its protests, set to work.

20 minutes later, the turret appeared to be the same, but with no legs and its optic shut off. However, it's the inside that counts.

GLaDOS watched the entire operation and knew exactly what it was.

"A bomb. Interesting choice," she commented, "What will set it off?"

Glade grinned again. "Impact," she answered, throwing it at the other door. It exploded, creating a large hole in the wall and throwing her against the other wall.

"Wow," Glade snickered, getting back on her feet, "That gunpowder had more kick than I thought!"

"It's different from most. Anyway, now I don't have to bother opening the door to your next test," GLaDOS replied calmly.

Glade, cheered up by the explosion, exited through the hole and down another hallway.

Chell's POV:

Chell ran blindly through the facility for about half an hour before she finally came across an observation window over looking a test chamber. Inside it, she could see Alex fling himself across the room and into the wall due to a misplaced portal.

She grabbed an old chair that was by the window and threw it into the glass, shattering it, and jumped into the chamber.

"Well, look who's here," GLaDOS commented in a mocking tone.

"MOM!" Alex yelled, running over and hugging her.

After a moment Chell pushed him away and knelt down so that she was eye level to him. 'Where's Glade?' she mouthed.

"I don't know! She's testing somewhere else!" he answered. He was scared, but was stubbornly trying to hide it. "We have to go find her!"

'I'll find her. You need to get out of here,' she mouthed. She took his portal gun and scanned the room for a way out.

However, a panel on the wall slid away, revealing a catwalk.

"Go ahead and take him," GLaDOS said boredly, "His recklessness would get him killed. I honestly don't want that to happen."

Chell wasn't sure whether or not to believe her, but led Alex past the panel onto the catwalk.

"However, I am more interested in the girl," GLaDOS went on, closing the panel behind them. Chell's blood ran cold at that comment. "Yes, young Gladys will stay with me for a little while longer," GLaDOS said, sensing her reaction. "I'm flattered by your choice of name, by the way."

Chell, beginning to feel enraged at what the AI was doing to her children, grabbed Alex's arm and led him down the catwalk at a fast pace. Before long they found themselves in the hallway that led to the elevator she came down in.

She took her car keys out of the pocket in her jeans and handed them to Alex.

'Go rest in the car,' she mouthed, pushing him into the elevator, 'if I'm not back by sunset, go home.'

Alex was about to argue, but shut his mouth from the look his mother gave him. Once he was out of sight, Chell turned and ran back into the facility.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Now the title will finally make sense! I had serious trouble thinking of a title for this…**

Glade's POV:

Glade was still grinning slightly about the explosion as she walked down the hallway to the next test. However, the grin fell away and she stopped dead when someone else ran into the hallway.

It was mom. Her grey T-shirt and jeans were almost as tattered as Glade's own cloths, and she had a portal gun and Long Fall boots. She smiled slightly in relief when she saw her daughter, and took a few steps forward, but paused when Glade stepped back.

"Why didn't you tell us about this?" Glade asked quietly.

Chell paused, like she was unsure how to respond. Glade saw her eyes dart to the bloody makeshift bandage on her arm. Man, her cut was really throbbing…

"I mean, if we knew about this place, then when we found it, we wouldn't have gone into it!" Glade claimed, her voice rising.

'If I told you about it, you would have purposefully come here sooner,' Chell replied silently, 'I kept it from you to protect you.'

"A lot of good that did!" Glade scoffed. She pushed past her mother and ran down the hall to her next test. "I… I just need to think."

She heard GLaDOS seal the way back with panels to keep Chell from following and even heard the robot sneer, "Nice parenting," but Glade didn't care.

It wasn't until she walked toward the door to the next test that she realized something.

Her mom was able to escape GLaDOS's control at least twice. Glade didn't want to stay here, but just opted to run away from her best chance of escape. This was exactly what GLaDOS wanted to happen. All this time GLaDOS had been sweet-talking and confusing her so that she would avoid her mother and remain a test subject.

Glade felt herself tense up with anger and frustration, but had no choice to continue to the next test.

"I know that it's your brother who's interested in robotics, but he's not available right now," GLaDOS said calmly.

"Not available?" Glade questioned suspiciously.

"Your mother took him out of the facility. However, it seems that she didn't understand it when I said that _we_ were going to continue testing. I hope she understands it now," GLaDOS said in a sinister tone.

"I don't want to test," Glade muttered.

"You seemed to enjoy the last one, though," GLaDOS pointed out, "Anyway, all you have to do here is construct a personality construct. I've already created the personality; all you have to do is build the core body. There are instructions on the table."

The room was a lot like the last one, but with a table in the middle that was covered in mechanical pieces and an instruction manual. One of the pieces was a large black cylinder that had several labeled plugs on it; probably what made up the 'personality'. Looking through the manual, it would've been complete gibberish to most people, but it made enough sense to Glade. She set to work.

About an hour later, it was done. Glade turned it on, and it flickered to life. It looked at her with a dark red iris. She cocked her head to the side and stared back at it curiously.

"This sphere is programmed to eliminate corrupted and defective equipment, as well as dangerous test subjects; basically, it's designed to do the dirty work," GLaDOS explained.

"Dangerous test subjects?" Glade questioned suspiciously, looking up.

"I'm not talking about you or your mother. It's just a first line of defense in case something like that happens again," the AI replied, chuckling.

"The… R-r-red S-sphere…" the sphere stuttered in a male voice, its iris swiveling, "I-is a g-good s-sphere…"

"Hmm… It looked like it was assembled correctly," GLaDOS noted, "And the stutter might not be a problem… Did you follow _every _instruction?"

"Yes?" the girl answered, eyeing the core as it looked around. The black pupil in the center of its iris dilated and it had panels on its 'face' that allowed it to blink and make facial expressions.

"Did you understand the instructions?"

"Yes!" Glade replied, getting defensive.

"Alright… Put it on its management rail, and we'll see what it does," GLaDOS ordered.

Glade looked up and noticed a rail on the ceiling. She plugged the core into it.

The core slid itself, or rather, himself back and forth on the rail, as if trying to get the hang of it. Then it looked down at Glade with what appeared to be a serious expression.

"P-please follow the Red Sphere," the Red Sphere ordered, somehow opening the door and sliding out of it. Curious, Glade followed.

"Where do you think you're going?" GLaDOS demanded, her question directed at the core rather than Glade.

"The Red Sphere is a good sphere that can be trusted," Red assured, ignoring GLaDOS. Glade continued to follow it along the catwalks.

"You shouldn't trust that core, Glade," GLaDOS advised after they had traveled for a while, "You're smart, smarter than I expected, but you're not at an Aperture Science level. You probably made a mistake."

That was true, since some of the instructions made little sense to Glade, but she still wanted to see what Red was trying to show her. They kept walking, with GLaDOS urging her to turn back and Red urging her onward.

Long after Glade had lost track on how long they had been walking, the Red Sphere dropped himself off of his management rail in front of a small room. The room was cylindrical, covered in switches, and stretched upward into blackness.

"Please p-p-pick up th-the Red Sphere and enter the m-main b-breaker room," Red ordered. Still curious, Glade picked the core up and entered the room. "Please plug the Red Sphere into the r-receptacle," he ordered again, and she did so.

The floor began to rise up. Glade eyed the core suspiciously, and he looked back at her with a blank stare.

"Central Core is corrupt," he announced.

"What?" Glade heard GLaDOS mention that she was once thought to be corrupt, and she was forced out of her mainframe by a 'certain moron'. Apparently, while she was out of her mainframe, something happened that cleared the corruption up. How could she be corrupt again?

They came up in the room GLaDOS was in. The AI glared at Glade, ignoring Red.

"You are no different from your mother," she said bitterly, "You _never_ listen."

Glade backed away and held her portal gun at the ready, even though it probably wouldn't help.

"Central Core is (bzzzzt) corrupt," the announcer came on, "Core replacement required."

"I've already fixed any corruption," GLaDOS protested turning her attention away from Glade and her mood obviously worsening.

"Substitute core, are you ready to start the procedure?" the announcer continued, ignoring her.

"Yes," Red answered emotionlessly.

"Corrupted core, are you ready to start the procedure?"

"I'm NOT corrupted!" GLaDOS insisted.

"Interpreting vague answer as 'yes'," the announcer announced.

"NO!" she protested, but apparently it was too late.

The receptacle Red was on lowered into the ground, and several sparks flew from GLaDOS and she went limp. The hole the receptacle lowered into was sealed, and a barrier went up around the mainframe. Glade winced when GLaDOS suddenly screamed, but Red didn't make a sound.

After several tense moments, GLaDOS's core was deposited outside of the barrier as it lowered, revealing the Red Sphere on the mainframe. Red turned his attention to GLaDOS's core, and a mechanical arm reached toward it from underneath the mainframe, pulling her under the floor.

"Transferring AI in mainframe core to standard core for transportation to the corrupted core bin," Red announced. He turned his attention to Glade. "Test subject. Please return to your testing area," he ordered.

"What? No way!" Glade protested.

Red glared at her. "Test subject refusing. Test subject classified as corrupted."

The room began to shake violently.

"Please wait while proper Test Subject elimination protocols are prepared," Red ordered politely.

_Please wait while proper Test Subject elimination... He's got to be kidding me! _Glade thought. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Chell standing behind her, her expression tense. She grabbed Glade's arm and pulled her toward an area in the wall where the panels were out of place, revealing an opening.

"Wait!" they heard GLaDOS's voice behind them. They turned to see a core like Red's sitting beside the mainframe. Rather than having an iris with a black pupil in the middle, she had a dilating, dark yellow pupil in the middle of the optic with black around it (like Wheatley's optic).

Glade paused, looking back at her.

"Look, I know that you think I've been trying to trick you, and in a way, I was to get you on my side, but you must understand that I was going to let you go!" GLaDOS called desperately.

Glade looked at her mother, whose eyes were darting between GLaDOS and the way out. After a second of debate, Glade broke free of Chell's grip and ran toward the mainframe, dodging debris that was beginning to fall. She grabbed the AI and ran back toward the opening with Chell following closely.

Once outside the chamber, they kept running with Chell in the lead and GLaDOS occasionally telling them where to go. Finally, they raced into a hallway with an elevator on the end. They entered it and collapsed, breathing heavily from the long run.

As it began to rise, Glade looked up at her mother, who was leaning up against the wall while Glade sat on the floor. "I… I'm sorry," she croaked, still panting.

Her mother gave a faint smile and nodded, but then reached out and lightly touched the makeshift bandage covering Glade's arm, showing that she was concerned. Glade pulled away when pain shot through it. When the elevator stopped, she helped Glade up and opened the door, which led out into the wheat field. Nearby was their family car, which Alex jumped out of.

"Mom! Sis!" he yelled, running toward them. He stopped when he noticed GLaDOS. "What's that?"

"It's me," GLaDOS answered before anyone else could.

Alex glared at her. "Why's _she _here?"

"Explain later," Glade muttered, getting into the car and still carrying GLaDOS. Not wanting to be with the AI, Alex stubbornly sat in the passenger seat up front. Glade sat in the back and tossed GLaDOS into the other seat. The car started up and began to plow through the wheat stalks.

"Okay, I know that none of you trust me completely," GLaDOS began after they had driven for a while.

"Of course none of us trust you!" Alex growled. Chell shushed him with a light touch on the shoulder.

"But we have to go back there and get that corrupted core out of my body!" she finished. She looked from Glade to Chell, waiting for a response.

Chell sighed loudly. Glade leaned closer to her. "We can't just get rid of her," she pointed out quietly. Chell nodded, glancing back at the AI.


	5. Chapter 5

They drove on in silence. Finally, they pulled up at their house.

"You live here?" GLaDOS questioned curiously, her optic swiveling to examine the garage they had pulled into.

Without answering, Glade pulled her out of the car and everyone trooped inside the house. Glade set the core on a table in the living room, and turned to her mother.

"So, when are we going back?" She asked.

Chell gave her a stern glare. '_You're_ not going back,' she mouthed silently, 'I'll help GLaDOS. Alone.'

"But-!" Glade started, but Chell gave her the 'I-don't-want-to-hear-about-it' look.

Chell sighed, and walked closer to Glade. She took her daughter's right hand to examine her injured arm. Glade immediately pulled away.

"It's fine," she muttered. Chell gave her another stern look. "Take care of Alex first," she suggested.

Alex had a lot more cuts, bruises, and burns than Glade did, but none were as serious as the cut on her arm. Regardless, Chell led Alex to the bathroom to clean him up.

"You know, you really should let her look at that," GLaDOS advised. Glade spun to look at her in surprise, not expecting such an AI to say something like that. But then she gave a dark chuckle, "Of course, I don't know how experienced she is in the medical field. You should probably let me look at it."

"I can take care of it myself," Glade replied defensively.

GLaDOS's optic swiveled toward the bathroom door, then back to Glade, and jerked to the side to urge her closer. Curious, the girl approached the AI, who told her to take the bloodied sleeve off her arm. It was dark red, and the blood had dried over it. However, GLaDOS only glanced at the cut before turning her attention back to Glade.

"Look, I know that she told you to stay here, but…" she paused, as if trying to choose her words carefully, "Alright, look, it's been 17 years. I could see it while she was there to get you and your brother out. She's lost her touch; she's not as skilled at thinking with portals as she once was." GLaDOS focused her gaze intently on Glade. "But you… You're just as good as she was, probably better. The point is, I want _your _help."

Glade was surprised by this. "But…"

"We can sneak out. You've done so before, haven't you?"

Glade allowed herself to smile. "Yeah, I've snuck out before."

"Then it's settled," GLaDOS replied, sounding pleased. Suddenly, the bathroom door opened, and Chell and Alex walked out. The AI's attention suddenly snapped to the gash on Glade's arm. "That needs to be washed and properly bandaged," she said matter-of-factly.

Glade realized that she had used the cut as an excuse for them to be talking. "Uh… Thanks." Glade pushed past her mother to the bathroom. "I can do it myself," she muttered. She couldn't let Chell clean it; her mother knew her too well. She would know that she was hiding something and would be able to guess what it is.

Chell's POV:

Chell looked at GLaDOS suspiciously.

"Her arm should be fine," the AI said, like she was trying to sound reassuring.

Chell just rolled her eyes and grabbed a pencil and a note pad, assuming that GLaDOS couldn't read her lips. She set the paper in front of the core for a minute, then took it away. Of course the AI would be able to read it fast enough.

'We'll leave tomorrow morning.'

"Tomorrow? That core could blow up the entire facility by then!" GLaDOS protested. Chell just glared at her. "Okay, he probably isn't stupid enough for that, but who knows how much damage he could do in that time!"

Chell just mouthed 'tomorrow' and walked away.

Glade's POV:

Glade walked out of the bathroom with her arm wrapped in fresh white bandages. She had only washed the cut with water, since she couldn't find the disinfectant.

Her mother wasn't in sight, and GLaDOS jerked for her to come over again.

"We're in luck," the AI said softly, "Chell is planning on leaving tomorrow morning, so we can leave tonight."

Glade nodded, glancing around to make sure they were alone. "We'll wait until midnight," she suggested, and the core nodded.

Alex's POV:

Alex overheard his sister talking to GLaDOS. They were planning on sneaking out? It would be dangerous, which was why mom wanted to go alone.

Alex didn't want to help that AI, but he had to keep his sister safe. Sure, he was the youngest, and most people think the oldest should take care of the youngest, but still. He would have to follow them.

Besides, this was the most interesting thing that happened all summer!

Glade's POV:

It was well passed midnight, almost two o'clock. Chell apparently couldn't sleep, and was checking on Glade and her brother periodically; probably to make sure they didn't do exactly what Glade wanted to do.

Finally, Chell stopped coming. Glade glanced out her door to make sure. She must have finally fallen asleep.

Glade silently crept out of her room to the table where GLaDOS sat. A yellow light in the darkness let her know the AI knew she was there.

"It's about time," GLaDOS whispered, "I was wondering if that lunatic would ever sleep."

Glade remained silent and walked to her mother's room, carefully opening the door. Soft breathing from inside let her know she was asleep. She returned to the living area with the Long Fall boots and a portal gun. She picked GLaDOS up with the portal gun, and walked out the front door, careful to lock it behind them.

She ran to the edge of town, where the field began. They then started their long walk back to the facility, following the trail of broken stalks of wheat made by the car.

Finally, they made it to the shed and entered it.

"I've thought of some good news," GLaDOS said, breaking the silence, as the elevator descended, "That core isn't designed to be able to focus on multiple things very well. He should be trying to focus on several things, so he probably wouldn't notice us for a while."

Glade remained quiet, only nodding in response. The core rolled her optic.

"You know, you don't have to be like your mother to the point of being mute."

Glade, unable to help it, laughed. However, it abruptly stopped when the elevator halted in the same hallway they left in.

"Alright," Glade said nervously, "here we go."

Chell's POV:

"_Seriously though, goodbye," GLaDOS said calmly._

_Mechanical arms lowered turrets around the relaxation vault Chell was trapped in. This time, however, they weren't defective._

"_I see you! Target acquired! There you are!"_

_In seconds, the bullets smashed through the glass…_

Chell sat up, breathing heavily. It was just another nightmare.

This was why she was so reluctant to sleep. She and GLaDOS, in some bizarre way, were friends now, so she had to help her. She couldn't let petty nightmares deter her now that she made that promise.

She looked at the clock. It was nearly 4:30. Not wanting to fall back asleep, she got up again.

However, the blood drained from her face when she entered the living room to find that GLaDOS was gone. Frantically, she checked Glade's and Alex's rooms. Both were gone. Checking back in her room, she found that both pairs of Long Fall boots and both portal guns were gone as well.

Why did they always have to get themselves into trouble?


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: This is where it get's interesting, guys! Keep reading!**

GLaDOS's POV:

GLaDOS looked up at the girl as she stepped slowly down the hallway, knowing that she was afraid. She really was a lot like Chell, but _so_ much easier to manipulate.

"So where do we go from here?" Glade asked.

GLaDOS thought for a moment. It was certain that Chell would follow them here eventually, but it could take hours for her to arrive. They might as well try to do something useful until she gets here.

"We should take down the turret production line," she finally answered, "Your mother did that before confronting me the second time. Clever, really."

Glade nodded, and the core began to direct her. After a short time, they were able to plug GLaDOS onto a management rail, which made things easier. Luckily, Red never noticed them as they progressed through the facility, which probably meant that GLaDOS's theory on him being unable to focus on multiple things as correct.

Finally, they made it to the turret production line.

"All you have to do is take out the template turret, and replace it with a defective one," GLaDOS explained, opening the door to the template turret.

Glade pulled it out, and shortly afterwards it exploded.

"Template turret missing. Continuing from memory," an announcer announced.

Knowing this would happen, Glade walked down to the catwalk and caught one of the defective turrets that were being thrown away. She placed it in the template turrets spot, just as she was told.

"T-t-template turret c-classified as defective," Red's voice came over the speakers. The defective turret exploded. "Corrupted test s-subject detected. Capturing."

Glade froze in place.

"Don't just stand there! Look for a way out!" GLaDOS urged.

Glade snapped out of it and ran out of the control room and back onto the catwalk, only to be grabbed by a mechanical arm. It pulled her away from the line.

The core followed as best she could on a management rail, and watched as the girl was dropped into a test chamber. It was damaged, so there were enough holes in it for GLaDOS to see that it was one of the advanced ones that Wheatley made Chell go through. Glade wouldn't make it through many of those! GLaDOS had watched her make mistakes in easier chambers that could easily result in death here. Even Chell had problems in them.

Glade's POV:

After at least three hours Glade had managed to go through the first chamber, and the second, and was now halfway through the third. Red was constantly nagging her to move faster and to stop taking breaks, even though she was really just examining the chamber.

She was exhausted. These tests were the hardest she had ever gone through, and not even being allowed to stand still for a second made it worse. Not caring what Red said, she leaned up against the wall and slid to the floor.

"Gladys!" she heard someone call. She looked up to see GLaDOS staring at her through one of the holes in the walls. "You'll have to get up," the AI urged, "I can get you out of there soon." After Glade struggled to a stand, she heard the core mutter, "Your mother went through much worse without collapsing…"

"What?" Glade asked, crossing her arms, "Didn't you say that I was better than her?" She meant it in a slightly joking way, but GLaDOS rolled her optic.

"I was flattering you," the AI said bluntly, "You're not at her skill level yet, even now when she's a little… less."

"So you lied to me?" Glade accused furiously, "Why did you even want me to come, then?"

"Like I said," GLaDOS replied calmly, "She's lost a bit of her touch; she can't do this on her own. The only way that I could be sure I had your help as well was if we snuck out first and waited on her to follow."

Glade's hands gripped the portal gun tightly in anger.

"T-test subject. Please c-c-cease communication with the c-corrupted core," Red ordered.

"Listen," GLaDOS said evenly, ignoring him, "You can't just decide to not help me now. I'm your only chance of getting out of here alive. Or, would you prefer that I give your mother a dead body to drag out?"

Glade's hands unclenched, though she refused to meet the core's stare.

"Stay here and pretend to test," GLaDOS ordered, sliding away on the management rail, "I'll hack a way out."

After she was out of sight, Glade wandered about the test chamber, shooting random portals and kicking cubes around, mostly out of frustration. How could she let herself get lied to this easily so many times by that AI?

"The Red Sphere b-believes the test subject would be in-interested to know that a younger male t-test subject has b-been captured," Red suddenly announced.

Glade halted in mid-kick. He had Alex? What was he doing here?

Suddenly, a panel on the wall slid out of place, and GLaDOS was on the other side.

She jerked her optic to the side to urge her over. "Quickly, before he overrides the hack!"

Although she was still angry with the AI, Glade had no choice but to follow. The panel slammed shut behind them as they raced down the catwalk.

"GLaDOS," Glade panted as they continued their escape, "He's got Alex!"

GLaDOS remained impassive. "Great, now we have one more thing to worry about."

Alex's POV:

Alex was lying in the middle of a test chamber, not wanting to move. He had followed his sister here, but lost track of her pretty quickly. He had wandered aimlessly around the facility for about an hour before being caught by an AI who called himself the Red Sphere.

He had been forced to go through very complicated test chambers, and had been burned pretty bad by a laser. He was entering the test chamber while it was still getting itself together, and a laser had turned on right in front of him, burning him across his stomach.

The pain had been too much for him, and he collapsed, burning himself again on the laser, but less severely. Red had badgered him for a while to get up and keep testing, but seemed to just be ignoring him now. He had been lying here since.

Alex had been half asleep. However, now someone was shaking him awake. He looked up to see his mother's concerned face leaning over him.

"Mom?" he muttered, allowing himself to be helped up. However, at the slightest movement of his abdomen, burning pain shot through him, and he went down again.

Chell's POV:

Alex cried out in pain and fell back down on the floor. Chell knew that she couldn't move him, but if she just left him there, who knows what would get to him. Besides, even if nothing got to him the chances of her being able to find her way back here were slim.

Then again, if GLaDOS gets back onto her mainframe she would be able to find him, and Chell was here to help her anyway. It was her only chance. Slowly, she lifted Alex up again, trying to ignore his cries of protest, until she managed to get him upright. He managed to walk a bit, and she half-dragged him to the wall so he could lean against it.

'I'll be back,' she mouthed, 'When all this is over, I promise I'll be back. Stay here.'

He nodded, and she headed away again.

Glade's POV:

Glade and GLaDOS kept up their pace until they were well away from the test chamber and stopped hearing Red's voice. They finally stopped, and Glade was once again sitting on the floor with her back against the wall, breathing heavily.

"Shouldn't we look for Alex?" Glade asked, looking up at the core on the management rail.

"We should probably track your mother down first," GLaDOS replied calmly.

With that, they kept moving.


	7. Chapter 7

Glade's POV:

Glade followed GLaDOS as she slid along the management rail through a hallway. She stayed several feet behind the core, keeping her head down and walking slowly. GLaDOS slowed down and flicked her optic around to look at the girl.

"Do I need to remind you that time is of the essence?" the core asked impatiently.

Glade just shrugged in response. The core rolled her optic.

"Look, I know that you're angry with me for lying to you," GLaDOS pressed, "In fact, most of the complements I gave you were outright fabrications. But, that doesn't matter now. We need to finish this."

Glade gripped her portal gun tighter and slightly sped up her pace.

"How are we supposed to find them in this place?" she asked quietly, referring to Chell and Alex.

"I should be able to hack into the security feeds," the core replied, "But then again that might-"

She was interrupted when the hallway in front of them was suddenly torn away by several large spike plates, revealing a large room that looked like entire walls were knocked down in it, with large heaps of rubble. On the opposite side of the room, were rows of turrets, all aimed at them.

"Trap successfully sprung on corrupted test subject and corrupted core," Red announced, as if that wasn't obvious.

The management rail GLaDOS was on broke, and she fell to the floor. Glade grabbed her with the portal gun, and dodged behind a loose panel to escape the turrets. They were lucky that enough panels were loose and there was enough debris in the room to provide plenty of hiding places, even though there were few portal surfaces.

"It's a good thing that core isn't an expert on traps," GLaDOS pointed out, "It looks like he just shoved a few rooms together and filled one end with turrets. We should be able to get to the other side if we move quickly and stay behind the piles of rubble."

Glade nodded, forgetting her quarrel with the AI. She ran out of the hiding spot, aiming for a pile of broken panels to hide behind.

"Target sighted," Red noted once she was out in the open.

Glade looked up and managed to dodge to the side soon enough before a spike plate could come crashing down on her, falling to the ground and scooting behind another pile to avoid the turrets. She watched as the spike plate rose and moved toward her for another strike.

"Get up!" GLaDOS urged, "We can't stop moving now!"

Glade got to her feet and ran, dodging around the debris and the spike plate's attempts to crush her. Suddenly, she tripped, and the plate was over her in seconds. It came down, but stopped with a spike inches from her face.

"Test subject classified as 'dangerous mute lunatic' detected," Red announced, "Eliminating."

The plate rose up, and moved away, the working panels in the wall moving aside to let it pass.

"I guess you were right," Glade muttered, "Red can't focus on multiple things."

"Of course I'm right. I designed him," GLaDOS replied, sounding smug.

"If you designed him, then why is he trying to kill us?" Glade countered.

"He was corrupted somehow," the core replied darkly, "I just need to find out how… Look, just follow that plate, it'll lead us straight to your mother."

Glade nodded and ran through the opening in the wall just before it closed, finding herself on a catwalk. She spotted the plate ahead and followed the large rail that it was sliding over.

It wasn't long before the spike plate stopped beside a room. The roof was removed, and the spike plate slid over it, hovering for a second before smashing downward.

Glade hurried closer, firing a portal into the room through a hole and another portal on a broken slab of a wall that was sitting on the catwalk, which probably came from the test chamber above them appeared to have been ripped in half.

When Glade entered the room, she could see that it looked like two test chambers had been rammed together with enough force to break the wall between them. She saw Chell, who was easily dodging the plate by portaling around the room.

"MOM!" Glade yelled. Chell glanced at them, almost letting her guard down enough to get crushed by the plate, but dodged it in time.

"Corrupted test subject detected," Red stated. The plate began to move toward Glade, ignoring Chell.

Chell eyed the plate. Behind Glade was the portal that led to the catwalk, and if she could get to her, they'd both be able to escape through it and put enough distance between them and Red's spike plate. That should be easy enough.

She shot a portal beside Glade's, and another one behind her, and ran through.

"Two corrupted test subjects detected," Red said. Before the plate could attack, they ran through the portal onto the catwalk and ran.

They kept running, and by the time the plate was able to raise itself out of the chamber and pursue them, they were out of Red's sight.

They finally stopped to rest in a hallway. Glade leaned against a wall and slid to the floor, setting the portal gun, with GLaDOS still in its manipulation field, on the floor. Her arm throbbed now more than ever, and she had fresh cuts to deal with as well. Chell knelt beside her, but she refused to meet her mother's eyes.

'Why couldn't you stay home?' Chell mouthed. Glade, though she saw it out of the corner of her eye, understood what she was saying.

Glade didn't answer, but glanced at GLaDOS. Chell shot the core a death glare, but she responded by rolling her optic.

"She didn't have to come," GLaDOS pointed out calmly, "In any case, we _do _need to keep moving. You've seen what that core has done to this place. He's worse than that moron."

Chell sighed, reached over, and turned the manipulation field on Glade's portal gun off, and picked the core up with her own portal gun. She turned back to Glade, who met her eyes this time.

'Stay here,' she mouthed, turning to leave.

"What?" Glade said, jumping up.

"We might need her," GLaDOS advised, "You've seen what sort of core we're dealing with."

'I can't let her risk her life like that,' Chell mouthed, even though she wasn't sure if GLaDOS could read lips. She kept walking, picking up her pace.

"Don't leave me behind again!" Glade called after her.

Glade couldn't just wait around. Sure, she may not be as good as GLaDOS led her to believe at first, but if she was good enough to get this far, she would keep going. She ran forward down the hallway, even though Chell was already out of sight.

Chell's POV:

_Don't leave me behind again!_

Chell sighed and kept running down the hallway, hoping that her daughter would stay put this time, but knowing that she wouldn't.

"You know, it would probably be safer if you took her with us," GLaDOS urged, "You would be able to keep an eye on her."

She might have a point, but if Glade stayed in the hallway, she should be fine. There weren't any cameras, and the walls were just walls, not made of panels.

But then again, what were the odds of Glade staying in one place?

They walked into one of the broken test chambers. Chell naturally eyed the chamber for traps, but there wouldn't be any need to solve it since an entire wall was missing.

As she walked toward the missing wall, though, something suddenly slammed into her side, sending her reeling into the other wall and making her drop GLaDOS. She shook her head to clear it, and stood up again, seeing that a panel was what had hit her. Knowing that she had to get out of the chamber quickly, she looked behind her and spotted GLaDOS several feet away.

Chell ran toward the core, but unbeknownst to her, a cube was being dropped from a dispenser onto an aerial faith plate, which sent it flying toward her. Something hard slammed into her head, knocking her out.

Glade's POV:

Glade ran in the direction her mother went, hoping that she wasn't off track. Soon, she found herself in a broken test chamber with an entire wall missing.

She froze when she saw her mother on the floor, not moving. She ran toward her, grabbing GLaDOS on the way, only to be blocked by a wall of lasers.

Suddenly, the floor fell away from under her, and she fell into a relaxation vault.

"Corrupted test subject captured," Red said. His voice was usually monotony, but she could swear she heard sadism in his voice. She suddenly realized that he wasn't stuttering anymore.

"Well, to be honest, I'm glad you caught up to us," GLaDOS pointed out.

"What-what happened up there?" Glade asked nervously.

"She was just knocked out. She should be fine, since that core is focusing on us instead of her," the core reassured her.

However, the reassurance was short-lived when the relaxation vault began to move forward down a dark passageway. At the end of it, the panels slid away, revealing Red on GLaDOS's mainframe, glaring at them.

"Corrupted test subject. Corrupted core. Welcome," he greeted in an unusually non-monotone voice, "Commencing elimination process."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Why do I suddenly imagine Red talking with a Scottish accent? No, seriously, don't imagine that…**

Glade's POV:

"Commencing elimination process," Red said in an almost gleeful voice.

Glade, with GLaDOS attached to her portal gun, backed up against the wall of the relaxation vault as neurotoxin began to fill the chamber. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, Red wasn't going to watch as the girl died helplessly in the vault. He wanted to spice things up.

"Where do you think your going?" he asked mockingly as Glade backed up. A mechanical arm reached into the vault, grabbed her, and yanked her out. The girl, with GLaDOS still at hand, struggled stubbornly against the arm even as it dangled her high above the mainframe. She was wearing Long Fall Boots, after all.

However, the boots were useless when the mechanical arm threw Glade against the wall. Glade felt her breath get knocked out of her and she dropped her portal gun on impact. She then fell about 15 feet to the floor, and luckily the boots could help that time.

"Glade," GLaDOS called from a few feet away, still attached to the portal gun, "There's a core receptacle coming up over there," her optic flicked around to point to it, "If you can attach me to it, I should be able to stop him."

Red just chuckled as Glade got to her feet and grabbed the portal gun and ran to the receptacle. She attached the core, and a few moments later static came from the intercom.

"Did you hear that?" Red asked calmly, "That was what's left of your last chance at stopping me. I considered the core transfer procedure to be… corrupted."

"He's hacked the system!" GLaDOS explained angrily, "Well… Two can play at that game." She then seemed to freeze, and Glade had a sinking feeling that this could take a while.

"No you don't," Red growled, a mechanical arm reaching for GLaDOS. Glade, remembering that he couldn't focus on them both, shot him with her portal gun. The portal bounced off harmlessly, but it got the AI's attention, and the arm stopped.

"You know, I was designed to follow nothing but protocols and orders," Red commented, the arm now reaching for Glade, "It must have been something _you_ did. You know, plug in something that wasn't meant to be plugged in. _She _should have told you."

Glade tried to run, but was grabbed by the mechanical arm. It brought her right in front of his face.

"I have to thank you though, since if you didn't plug in Wire F13, I wouldn't have access to a personality," Red explained, "But since you did, and since I'm in charge, corruption," he suddenly slammed Glade into the wall, "Is whatever," the arm pulled back and slammed her again, "I-" SLAM! "Don't-" SLAM! "Like!" SLAM!

The arm released her and she fell to the ground. Glade, with her arm feeling like it was on fire and the rest of her body throbbing, struggled to stand.

"And you know," Red went on in a deathly calm and quiet voice, "Two, no, _three_ corrupted test subjects and one corrupted core running around _MY _facility is something I don't like. You just couldn't go along with protocol and let yourselves be properly eliminated, could you?"

A spike plate replaced one of the usual panels and lunged toward Glade, and she ran to dodge it. It slammed onto the spot where she had stood just a moment before, and rose again to give chase.

"You kept defying orders, staying out of sight, and dodging elimination! You just couldn't let a professional work!" Red roared, the plate constantly smashing into the floor in a violent attempt to kill Glade as she dodged around the room, "Sure, crashing together and ripping apart corrupted test chambers helped, but it wasn't like it would help stop you!"

Glade realized that while he was in power, Red had gone truly insane. GLaDOS had once mentioned something about some sort of test solution euphoria that was hardwired into her mainframe that would make an AI constantly want to test. However, now it seemed like that had no effect on Red. His programming to eliminate corruption, which was corrupted itself, seemed to have overridden that.

Glade had to pause a moment to catch her breath, but after just a few seconds she had to leap to the side to avoid getting crushed by the spike plate. She was breathing hard, and her whole body was aching. According to the timer, the neurotoxin would be at capacity and she would die in two minutes, so she must have been at this for three.

"Warning: Core Corruption at 100%," the announcer suddenly came on, "Core transfer mandatory."

"Impossible," Red seethed, "I shut the corruption sensors down! I'm the only one who can-!" He looked down and noticed GLaDOS staring smugly at him from the core receptacle. A mechanical arm reached for her, but Glade got between it and the core. It grabbed her instead, and she was thrown to the other side of the room.

"Substitute core, are you ready to start the-"

"YES!" GLaDOS replied before the announcer could finish.

"Corrupted core, are you ready to start the procedure?"

"No," Red replied with an unnatural calm.

"Stalemate detected," the announcer noted, "Third-party stalemate resolution associate, please press the stalemate resolution button."

Glade immediately got up and dived toward the button, but another arm grabbed her and threw her away from it. The spike plate was close behind it, and by the time she hit the ground it was in position to crush her.

Glade struggled to get to her feet, the plate accelerating toward her, but she wasn't moving fast enough. Before the spikes could impale and crush her, however, she was shoved aside and thrown to the ground, well away from the plate. She looked behind her and saw that it was her mother who saved her.

Before either could do anything, the plate rose from the ground and slashed its spikes across Chell's back. She let out a silent scream and fell to her side.

"MOM!" Glade screamed, running to her, feeling all of her adrenalin drain out of her. She saw that Chell's right side, mostly her shoulder, had been ripped to ribbons.

Chell stared up at her with steely, calm eyes. 'Press the button,' she mouthed, before her eyes closed.

Glade felt that she couldn't just leave her, but if she didn't press the button, they could both die. She stood up shakily and stepped toward the button, but a harsh wave of dizziness swept over her. _Was that the neurotoxin? _She wondered. She tried to stand again, but with the same results. Darkness was forming at the edge of her vision, but before she passed out, she could hear the announcer.

"Stalemate resolved."

Alex's POV:

Alex leaned against the button as he pressed it, the burn on his stomach stinging harshly. He got off of it, then stumbled to a sitting position on the ground as the core transfer took place. Somehow, during the procedure, GLaDOS had downloaded herself off of the regular core she was in and back into her usual central core.

The AI, back into control just as she was before, turned to look at Alex.

"You and your sister really can't follow directions when you are told to stay put, can you?" GLaDOS commented calmly, "Yes, I've already looked over the security feeds."

Alex's fists clenched. Why was she wasting time talking about this? He looked over at his unconscious mother and sister, his stomach clenching when he noticed the growing red pool around his mother.

The AI slowly followed his gaze to them. A panel on the floor beside his mother moved aside, and three mechanical arms gently picked her up and lowered her into the hole. Another arm reached toward Glade, shaking her slightly. When she didn't respond, the same thing happened to her.

GLaDOS turned back to him. "Considering the condition of those two, for once I'm glad you _didn't_ follow directions."

"What… What did you do to them?" Alex demanded, trying to keep his voice from squeaking.

"I did nothing other than send them to the Aperture Science Medical Wing. You do realize that they urgently need medical attention, right?" she replied, talking to him like he was a child. Technically, he _was _a child, but she talked like he was a child under his age of 13. "And considering what happened to _you_," she went on, referring to the burn on his stomach, "You should probably go there as well."

**A/N: Now that you've (hopefully) read the chapter correctly, **_**now**_** you can go back and read it while imagining Red talking with a Scottish accent.**

**You can probably guess that this fic is nearing its end. The action's over, but there will be one last chapter to wrap things up. Thank you if you've kept reading it this far, and I hope you've enjoyed. It might be a while before the last chapter is written, though.**


	9. Chapter 9

Glade's POV:

Glade slowly opened her eyes, only to close them again at the bright light. She felt strangely hot, and she heard a dull, repetitive beeping. As she opened her eyes again and became more aware of her surroundings, the beeping sped up. Looking to her right, she saw that she had been hooked up to a heart monitor and an IV.

She was in what looked like a hospital room. In a corner across from her to the left was a TV monitor that was turned off and appeared to be on some sort of rail that would allow it to move along the left wall closer to her. Trying to ignore the sick feeling in her stomach, she raised herself up a bit to look behind the small bed she was in. There was a camera watching her from the wall behind her, and covering the back wall were numerous mechanical arms of different sizes and functions. Some were like the much larger ones in GLaDOS's chamber, with two claws on the end, but others had three or four. Some weren't meant to grip at all, but had tools on the end like knives or injector needles, which made her shudder.

Turning away from them, she checked over herself. The cut on her right arm from the turret was freshly bandaged but stung hotly. She still felt sick and hot, but other than the multitude of small cuts and burns that were also treated she seemed to be fine.

Glade let herself relax a bit, and wondered what had happened and how she had gotten here. Luckily for her, she was about to find out.

The TV monitor turned on, showing GLaDOS in her chamber.

"Oh good, you're awake," the AI said in a sarcastic sounding voice. Glade tensed, being trapped in a hospital-like room controlled by a science craving AI isn't always a good thing.

"What… what happened?" Glade asked, sitting up.

"That cut on your arm became infected," GLaDOS explained calmly, "I noticed it before, but it didn't seem to affect you until now."

"You should've said something…" Glade muttered, giving the computer a small glare.

"I honestly doubt it would have made a difference."

With a heavy sigh, Glade laid back down. Suddenly she remembered something.

"What happened to- Ugh…" she had to stop when a wave of dizziness passed over her, making her collapse back down on her side.

"Take it easy," the AI urged, the monitor sliding closer to the bed, "That infection gave you a fever and I _don't_ want you vomiting on the floor." A fever. That explained why Glade felt hot and sick.

"What happened to my mom?" the girl finally mumbled.

"She's fine," came the reply, "Well, to be honest, she _will_ be fine, but right now her condition is quite serious. It's stable, but still serious. She's in the medical room next door."

Glade curled up, worry setting in. "…And Alex?"

"He's in a _much_ better condition than you and your mother," GLaDOS said, "At least, he doesn't have to stay in a medical room. I'm even letting him interact with my two testing robots."

Glade, feeling just a little better, closed her eyes and let herself slip into a hot, feverish sleep.

Chell's POV:

_Chell ran down a hallway in a test chamber, turned a corner, and found herself face-to-face with a row of turrets. She turned around, but the hallway she was just in was gone; replaced by a wall and more turrets. There was no way out!_

"_Surely you can do better than that," GLaDOS mocked cruelly._

"_I see you!" The turrets began to fire, and she felt an intense pain on the right side of her back._

"Keep still!" GLaDOS growled, "Do you want me to cut something important?"

_What…?_

_It didn't feel like turrets were shooting her. It felt like she was being held down by a bunch of mechanical arms. She felt something pierce the back of her neck; she immediately went limp, the pain faded, and the nightmare slipped away._

Chell finally woke up completely.

"Do you normally thrash around in your sleep?" she heard GLaDOS ask, "Or should I check for something?"

Chell's initial reaction was to jump up and see what the heck was going on, but pain immediately shot through her right shoulder and she fell back down.

"Keep still!" the AI ordered. Chell saw a TV monitor showing GLaDOS slide closer to her along the wall to her left. "You've lost over two pints of blood and yet you're still thrashing around? Don't you ever relax?" she asked exasperatedly.

Chell felt something pierce her neck again, and looked around to see a mechanical arm with an injector needle on the end pulling away. She whipped back to face the AI again, the question of 'What was I just injected with?' obvious on her face.

"That was a slow-acting sedative," the AI explained, "It'll give us a few less painful minutes to talk before it kicks in completely."

Chell noted that the pain was ebbing, but it felt like she was relaxing involuntarily. To be honest, being in a hospital-like room run by a homicidal AI, even an AI that you were on somewhat good terms with, wasn't a situation she would feel comfortable relaxing in.

"Since we don't have that much time, I'll just cut to the chase and tell you what you probably want to know," GLaDOS said before launching into an explanation on Glade's and Alex's conditions as well as Chell's own. Towards the end of the explanation, her mind started to feel fuzzy, and the sedative kicked in.

Glade's POV:

A few days later, Glade and Alex had completely recovered, and were allowed to wander around, as long as they didn't go too far from the Central AI Chamber. However, it wasn't until a week later that their mother had healed enough for them to go home. Despite the kid's protests, their mother had ordered that they leave as soon as possible.

'GLaDOS probably has better things to do than keep an eye on you two,' she had said, 'She has an entire facility to fix up.'

On the day that they had to leave, Glade sat beside her mother on the bed. The TV monitor was currently turned off.

"So… Do you think we'll be able to come back here?" Glade asked quietly, "You know, just to visit?"

Chell looked away from her for a minute, then looked back and mouthed, 'You'll have to ask GLaDOS about that.'

"Wait, you mean _you're_ okay with it?" Glade asked excitedly. Looking a little embarrassed, Chell nodded.

'But,' she reminded her, 'you still have to ask _her_ about it.' Glade nodded and ran off.

Unsurprisingly, the AI was a little reluctant to let them come back. However, she said that after a week of repairs, perhaps she'd let them come over for a little while. Of course, the only problem with that was, after a week the kids would have to go back to school and summer vacation would be over.

The three said goodbye to GLaDOS and finally left for home, Glade and Alex wondering if and when they would be able to come back.

**A/N: Right, wasn't sure how to end this…**

**Anyway, was this story any good? Constructive criticism on it is accepted, especially since I'm planning on there being a sequel that will hopefully be much better. It probably won't come for a while though, since school's starting and progress on all of my fanfiction will slow WAAAAAY down.**

**Speaking of which, those of you who read Average Life at Aperture Science, have any of you realized that the real Chapter 23 has been updated? It doesn't show that it's been updated on the website when you replace a chapter, but it is there. Also, remember that really soon Chapter 19 will be updated as well.**

**I hope that you've enjoyed this story and thank you if you've read it all the way to the end. **


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